


Soulmate Timers

by MaggieMaybe160



Series: Soulmate AU One-shots [13]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Denial of Feelings, F/M, Grief/Mourning, M/M, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Season/Series 13 Spoilers, Short One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Timers, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-07-03 02:20:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15809346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaggieMaybe160/pseuds/MaggieMaybe160
Summary: Everyone has a little clock on their wrist that counts down until you meet your soulmate





	Soulmate Timers

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Hello83433](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hello83433/gifts).



A very young Sam Winchester looked from his wrist to his Dad’s as they walked to a motel room. Six zeros stained his wrist like a faded tattoo of a digital clock. Sam’s own tattoo was longer. He knew the numbers but he didn’t know what they meant. Dean kept his covered at all times and never spoke of it. So Sam never asked.

Dean both loved and hated the timer that stamped his wrist like a ticking bomb. It had been drilled into his head that he was nothing more than a soldier to avenge his mother’s death and hunt the monsters they ran into in the meantime. He wasn’t allowed to have friends. He wasn’t meant to fall in love. But it was right there in pure black numbers on his wrist. The timer counting down to when he would meet his soulmate. He loved it because it meant he was worth something. He was matched to someone else. He already meant something to someone who didn’t even know him. He hated it because he knew he wouldn’t be able to love them. His life would probably lead to their death. It could lead to his own death. It wouldn’t end well.

John Winchester hadn’t seen Dean’s timer since he turned five. Dean had started taking baths by himself, dressing by himself, and had even used a black marker at kindergarten to cover it up. John knew it was still there but it was obvious that Dean wanted nothing to do with the numbers, the soulmate. His baby boy Sam, though. Sam would trace the numbers while he was in the bath and he would ask John about them. Sam would point at John’s old timer and ask about Mary. Sam loved his timer but as he got older he stopped talking about it.

* * *

Jessica Moore turned around quickly after grabbing her books from the floor. She had just walked into the cutest guy and her timer hit zero. She covered her arm before turning around to introduce herself to him.

“Jessica. But everyone calls me Jess.” She grinned and held out a hand.

“Sam. My friends call me Sam.” He smiled back and shook her hand. She left a piece of paper in his hand and ran off with her friend, looking over her shoulder once. Sam looked down at the scrawled number and smiled. He called her of course. The second he got back to his dorm room.

“Hello?”

“Hi. Jess? This is Sam. We ran into each other at the library earlier.”

“Oh! Sam!”

They made a date. He picked her up at her dorm and took her to dinner. They got to the table and she shrugged off her coat and sat down opposite Sam. He saw the zeros on her wrist but they couldn’t have been for him, right? His numbers were still counting down. He ignored it and let himself fall for her.

* * *

Two years later Sam sat bolt upright in bed. His dream had been a nightmare. Jessica was next to him and she was fine. There was no fire or blood. There were no screams or sirens. Just darkness, silence, and relief.

“What’s wrong, sweetie?” Jess murmured, running her hand down Sam’s back. He leaned back and let himself breathe.

“Just a bad dream. Tell me something nice.” Sam sighed his relief.

“Mmmm.” Jess rolled so her head was on his chest. “I remember when I ran into you at the library. My timer hit zero immediately. I was blushing so hard my face was burning up. When you called I got that same goofy grin on my face that I had when I turned around to introduce myself.” Jess smiled sleepily into Sam’s chest as he ran his hand through her hair.

“I love you.” Sam whispered and tried to push his own timer, that he kept covered now, out of his mind.

* * *

Sam had learned to hate his timer as much as Dean had growing up. He hated it when he saw it knowing that it wasn’t counting down to Jessica. He hated it when it kept counting down as he grieved Jessica’s death. He hated it as he met woman after woman who Dean was sure was meant for Sam and his timer kept going.

Dean had his gun raised and aimed at the barn door. His eye caught his timer at thirty seconds but he ignored it because he was in the middle of hunting. The doors opened and lights sparked and shattered. Dean knew his timer had just hit zero. He shot anyway. The man kept walking. More lights shattered with little light explosions as the supposed soulmate of Dean Winchester continued to walk further into the barn despite the sigils, gunshots, traps, and everything else that had been set up.

As Castiel, Angel of the Lord, showed Dean Winchester his wings, Dean wilted inside. He had never wanted a soulmate in the first place. He was meant to be with a creature. A powerful monster. A thing that possesses another human.

Dean of course tried thinking of how his timer could be wrong. Maybe he was supposed to be with the poor bastard who was possessed. Maybe he had to get rid of the angel and save his soulmate? When Dean looked into the eyes of Jimmy Novak for the first time, Dean knew he had been wrong. He felt the vacancy of the angel and hated that he wished for Castiel to return to his “vessel”.

* * *

It was years later when Sam caught a glimpse of Dean’s timer and stopped. The numbers were at zero. When had that even happened? Why wasn’t Dean with them? Sam looked down at his own timer and back to Dean’s. How long had Dean’s been at zero?

“Dean?” Dean looked over at Sam with an eyebrow raised. Sam nodded toward Dean’s wrist. “When did that happen?” Dean’s eyes flashed to Cas quickly as he covered his wrist and stood up.

Sam watched Cas fall. He heard his brother scream. He knew. Sam left Dean who had fallen to his knees next to Cas.

Dean watched Cas burn on the pyre built for the hunter’s funeral. The pyre he had built by himself. He watched the flames and couldn’t cry. He wanted to burn the zeros from his wrist in the fire. He wanted to wake up. He couldn’t wake up.

* * *

Dean sat down in the impala again. Billie had just kept him from dying. She was Death now and had some higher purpose for Dean. He rolled up his sleeves and rolled the window down. On his wrist numbers replaced his faded zeros. He almost stomped on the brakes. He yanked his sleeve down and stepped down harder on the gas. Sam looked over but didn’t say anything.

Then, the phone rang and Dean grabbed it. “Yeah?”

“Hello, Dean.” Dean’s heart slammed in his chest.

In the car as they neared the meeting point, Dean checked his timer. One minute. They parked. Thirty seconds. He closed his door. Ten. He turned and saw Cas standing under the streetlamp. Zero.


End file.
